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baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org skrev:
> Message from Steven
> ===================
> Mikael Bonnier wrote:
> > I can boot BL 3.50 (from bl3-50fd.zip) on an AST 
> > Ascentia P series laptop from floppy.  I have 
> > installed it to HD (/dev/hda1). 
>
> When you installed it to HD, did you change anything
> in /etc/lilo.conf before you ran "lilo -v" ?

No.

> Did you use the provided lilo.conf?  Or did you use
> lilo and/or lilo.conf from some other distribution?

The provided.

> When you installed BL3 to HD, did you execute 
> install-to-hd from a fresh boot from floppy?  

Yes.

> Or had you edited/deleted some files first?

All were original.

> > It boots normally from HD but right at the end when 
> > it has printed issue it hangs. It prints "...to 
> > activate cdrom/network/pcmcia." and then hangs.
>
> That comes from /etc/issue (which is executed by /etc/rc).  
> Clearly, the kernel is booting OK and the filesystem is
> found and read.  So you are nearly there.  
>
> Three possible causes for your problem immediately come 
> to mind:
> (1) error in filesystem due to some sort of hardware fault 
> (2) partitioning and/or e2fs formatting error
> (3) your filesystem is readable, but not writeable

I could edit files on the HD.

> Please give us some more details on how you did the
> installation.  In particular, did you use the BL3 fdisk,
> BL3 mke2fs, and BL3 lilo to do the installation?  

I used these programs and I deleted all partitions using BL3.50FD fdisk.

> Or 
> did you perhaps use an old partition (or old lilo or 
> old filesystem) prepared by a different distribution?

It could have been DeLi Linux in which I installed lilo to MBR. I had to 
do that in order to get it to work. This in turn could be because I 
tried to install some other small Linux before.

> > It does not print "Please press Enter...". It doesn't 
> > respond to any keys, except Ctrl+Alt+Delete (so it is 
> > not compleatly dead). However, I can boot from HD 
> > without hanging if I first boot from floppy and enter 
> > "hd root=/dev/hda1". 
>
> So, it appears the partition/filesystem are OK.  That
> would seem to indicate that the problem is from lilo
> (since the lilo on the floppy is booting OK).  So, we
> should first focus on your lilo.  I'm guessing you are 
> booting (perhaps accidentally) from an old pre-existing 
> lilo that was set to boot read-only (most versions of
> Linux boot read-only).  BL3 boots read-write, and will 
> fail if you try to boot it read-only.
>
> If you show us a copy of your lilo.conf, we should be
> able to figure out what is happening.

I had the original lilo.conf. But now I've changed it to:
boot=/dev/hda   ###  this line puts lilo in MBR of primary harddrive
                  ###  otherwise lilo goes in root partition
image=/boot/zimage
  label=BL3
  root=CURRENT
  read-write

Then I run lilo -v and now it boots from /dev/hda2 (where I put BL 3.50 
last). It works! Thanks for putting me on the right track.

Are there any disadvatages to using MBR? How could I restore MBR so I 
could use the standard installation procedure? One idea is to use Nuke 
on SystemRescueCD x86, but perhaps there is a less extreme method.

--
// Mikael Bonnier
----
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